General
- Thursday March 5th, 2026 @ 16:00
Pre-Match Bulletin: Shels V Saints (06/03/26)
St Patrick's Athletic will be looking to make it three wins in a row with victory against Shelbourne on Friday evening.
The Virgin Media TV cameras will be at Tolka Park for this huge Dublin Derby with The Saints set to wear their new 3rd kit, with The Wolfe Tones, for the first time.
Stephen Kenny's side come into this match off the back of home wins against Dundalk FC (4-0) last Friday and Galway United FC (1-0) on Monday.
MATCH DETAILS
MATCH STATS
The Saints and The Reds went head-to-head four times in the League last season and once in the Sports Direct FAI Cup.
Pat's won that Cup match 2-0 thanks to goals from Mason Melia and Chris Forrester.
In terms of the League meetings, the most recent of them was on the last night of the 2025 season and that ended 0-0 at Tolka, with Shels coming out on top (2-1) in the other meeting in Drumcondra. The matches at Richmond last season ended 0-0 and 0-1.
This will be the 155th LOI meeting of these famous Dublin clubs and the tale of the tape is tight.
These teams met on this day in 1998 (March 6th) in an FAI Cup 1/4 Final which ended 2-2 at Richmond Park, Eddie Gormley and Paul Campbell got The Saints' goals that night.
Pat's fans will have fond memories of wins at Tolka in 2022, 2023 and 2024 with memorable goals from Darragh Burns, Sam Curtis and Al-Amin Kazeem in those victories.
Joey O'Brien's Shelbourne come into this match after a 2-1 win in Drogheda last Friday. They drew on their opening two outings 1-1, in Waterford on the opening night and in their first home match of the season against Galway United.
It's a busy weekend for Shels, after tomorrow, they'll travel to face Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght on Monday in a rearranged game.
In terms of player stats for The Saints, Barry Baggley made his 50th appearance for the club in the win at home to Galway on Monday, Max Mata made his League debut for the club that night with James Brown making his Pat's bow in the victory v Dundalk last Friday.
If Goalkeeper Joseph Anang features on Friday, it will be his 100th appearance for St Patrick's Athletic.
PRE-MATCH INTERVIEW
Manager Stephen Kenny spoke to Jamie Moore after training on Thursday to look ahead to the game, watch the full chat on our Youtube below.
TEAM-NEWS
Simon Power (knee) and Zack Elbouzedi (hamstring) miss the game while Anto Breslin returns to the matchday squad after a knock.
TICKETS / TV / LOITV / RADIO
The 1,000 away tickets are totally sold out, those not going to Tolka can watch the game on Virgin Media TV and VM Sport, kick-off is at 8pm, with radio updates on Off The Ball.
Photo credit: Sportsfile
